I AM a non-Muslim, Chinese Malaysian who support the Palestinian cause. Most people in this country tend to see things through their racial or religious lenses, whether they care to admit it or not.

In our parliamentary system of democracy, sole racial or religious representation is both illegal and immoral as there is not a single constituency in our country in which all the voters belong to only one race or religion. 

Even if there were one person in the constituency of another race or religion, the elected representative must represent his or her interest based on justice of the case and not based on race or religion and regardless of whether this person voted for him or her.

This is the principle of our parliamentary democracy. Elected representatives who disagree with this principle must vacate their seat now and leave for another country or another planet to practice their racial or religious politics.

Even the rulers, whose main role is to protect the sanctity of Islam and the Malay community, must also protect and represent the interests of other races, as stated clearly in the Federal Constitution.

The recent “Allah” socks controversy is a sign of what is wrong with our society today and how easy it is for unscrupulous and dishonest politicians to play the race and religion card.

The Chinese owners and sock suppliers of KK Mart have been charged in court with intentionally wounding the feelings of Muslims just for displaying a few pair of socks with the word “Allah” on them. 

But the owners of KK Mart have not yet been found guilty.

Islam is a religion of justice, peace and compassion. What gives politicians the right to already deem the owners of KK Mart guilty?

The owners of KK Mart have already public apologised and agreed to review their working processes.

Therefore, is it just to boycott oKK Mart without first establishing the facts of the case and the guilt of the owners? 

We have an Umno assemblyman from Malacca, who is responsible for playing us the issue and initiating the boycott of KK Mart but who is also supposed to represent the interests of non-Malays.

Yet he was proclaiming that he must defend his religion at all costs, without first getting the facts of the case and finding out how the offending socks got there in the first place. 

It’s easy to blame people of another race in any issue.

It is not about boycotting an outlet or brand, which every consumer has the right to do.

What if the court should find KK Mart innocent later? Who is going to compensate for its losses?

Even if KK Mart were found guilty as charged, is it fair to the employees of KK Mart to suffer the negative consequences of a boycott over something they are not even involved in or have any control over?

This is a form of collective punishment, which is unjust, like how the Zionist regime is punishing the entire population of 2.2 million people in Gaza for a militant act committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

We also have some stupid former politicians asking this Umno politician from Malacca to “stand down as he had made his point”. What point? That it is all right to attack a legitimate business and punish the staff over an offence for which the owners have not yet been found guilty yet? This is also a symptom of the state of our defective political system today.

The fact that the Umno politician from Malacca has been called up by the police for questioning and likely to be charged with sedition, after having caused so much ill-will in race relations, is beside the point.

How on earth is our country going to achieve a true sense of national unity, which is much needed for social and economic progress, with many of our elected politicians resorting to cheap tricks to deceive and instigate people?

Unless the people of all races wake up and not allow any politicians to get away with playing the race and religion card all the time, God helps us all in our beloved country. – April 9, 2024.

* K. K. Tan reads The Malaysian Insight.
 

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.